All Your Monies: January 12th 2015

Hello, and welcome to All Your Monies, where The Glorio Blog’s resident toy and figure collecting crew will run down the last week’s new pre-orders, turning a loving or scathing eye over what’s been put out for you to spend your hard earned cash on. This week a ghastly dinosaur monster invades our army of cute girls.

Zigg:I actually really like this. Regular readers will know I’m a sucker for big poofy dresses and this is a charmingly simple take on that particular look. It’s kind of adorable to see saber actually looking happy for a change too, and she’s cute with her hair down. Sure, there’s not much more pizzaz beyond that, and it’s expensive for something made by Wing, but it definitely has its charms.

Jel: I like the idea but something just seems off here. Maybe it’s her expression being just a bit off or the physics of the twirling dress being not quite right? I’m not really a fan of the single color dress either. Still, it’s a nice concept and some of the details like her hair and feet are really nice and the very least it’s cool to see something new in the sea of Saber figures out there.

Chris:I quite like this figure, though whatever scene or fan art or whatever it’s based on is completely lost on me. It’s different enough from being another figure of Fate in armour without going so far as to stick four versions of her on a bed in varying degrees of undress. Not like that’s happened before or anything. Nightgowns to be the next yukata in the figure world?

Iro: This figure is based off some bonus scene tacked onto the end of the Realta Nua rerelease of Fate/Stay Night, so I guess they were running out of other bullshit costumes to stick her in. It seems like a decent figure for what it is, although everything seems a little too billowy. I suppose if you’re way into Saber’s girlier side, you may as well go for a figure actually from the game instead of a yukata or something.

Zigg:Rider has an incredibly striking design, but considering it’s one of those designs that plays heavily on sex appeal and voluptuousness, I’m not sure Nendoroid is the right form for it. Sure, it’s pretty cool to see that giant blindfolded head but otherwise this feels a little lacking. The striking colour scheme reamins great though and the acessories are decent and well-thought through. Above average Nendo faire.

Jel: I find it amusing that we are just now getting Archer and Rider Nendoroids in 2014/2015. Well, unless you count this. Or these. The full size Nendo seems to just scale up the previous petits, complete with her trademark chains and magic circle accessories. Other than that the design speaks for itself, which is pretty simple but striking. The color contrast does all the work while still making sense for the character. It’s a must have for your Fate Nendo collection, now if we can only get a full size Berserker…

Chris:It looks like the visor-thing she’s wearing is removable, so again, if you’re not buying this because you love the character, you might want it for the accessories. It’s a Nendoroid.

Iro: This, uh… sure is a Nendoroid of Rider. Looks like it has all the right accessories to recreate scenes from Fate/Stay Night, so I guess it- wait, shouldn’t it come with a Nendo-sized pegasus? I’d figure that for a key accessory, especially since the magic circle is included.

Zigg: We’ve thrown a lot of shade at Alter in recent months, but there’s still an indefinable something about their figures. The great body sculpt, the ultra-sharp detailing, the flamboyant paint and the keen, slightly different expression all mark this as a quality bit of merch. Subject matter is always contentious of course and I’m not much of a Love Live guy, but there’s no denying this is up there with the best.

Jel: For all the accusations you could make about Alter just existing to pay the bills these days, you can’t deny they make the best of what they’re working with. The Love Live girls all have super boring designs and you know how we feel about swimsuit figures around here, but they’ve managed make a really pretty, relatively tasteful figure. Maki is technically flawless, from the wrinkles in her giant pink bow down to the paint on her toenails. If you can get over the fact you’re buying a statue of a 15 year old in a bikini, you should be all set.

Chris:Certainly not the worst swimsuit figurine out there, as it succeeds in not being 1) completely gross and 2) incredibly boring. The face isn’t awful, the coat-thing looks kinda cool fluttering about in that figurine wind, and the giant impractical bow is a nice touch. Couldn’t tell you a thing about the girl wearing it, though.

Iro: This is definitely a swimsuit figure. The individual details (eg. cords on the vest, painted toenails) seem technically well-made, but otherwise this seems like the most generic figure of all time.

Zigg:Chibi-Moon was always the worst anyway, so I confidently proclaim this figure the worst.

Jel: AAAHHHHH! That face is terrifying. It’s a fine line on the head/body ratio for Chibi Moon and this has crossed it. The rest of the figure looks dead and flat. Can we officially call this Sailor Moon Figuarts line a failure?

Chris: This is not a figure of Chibi. This is a figure of a Chibi cosplayer wearing an animegao mask.

Iro: Is this meant to be a figure of someone wearing one of those terrifying anime masks? Because that’s exactly what it looks like. Otherwise, it’s just kind of dull.

Jel: It’s Yoshi, now complete with ugly mechanical Figuarts joints and seams. I will say I’m impressed they found a way for Mario and Luigi to ride him, but I am highly skeptical at how well that will work outside of floating white background promo images.

Chris:This looks like a Yoshi, but seriously, fuck Yoshi.

Iro: If you bought the Mario and Luigi Figuarts, this seems like the perfect accessory. Looks like he comes with an egg and tongue accessories too, so this seems pretty comprehensive as far as Yoshi goes. Unfortunately not packaged: an actually good sequel to Yoshi’s Island.